


a little closer to home

by Slumber



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, Getting Together, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26452891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: Atsumu steps out into the arrivals hall of the Galeão International Airport after twenty-plus hours of flying—carry-on and backpack in tow, plane-ruffled hair tucked beneath an Onigiri Miya cap, face mask in place—and finds his gaze immediately drawn to a burst of yellow and orange balloons floating above the waiting crowd, right next to an equally eye-catching♥♥♥ WELCOME TO BRAZIL, ATSUMU!!! ♥♥♥sign on a poster board, written with big, bold strokes in surprisingly impressive kanji, strategically decorated in yellow glitter.Atsumu visits Hinata in Brazil. It's been quite the journey.(AtsuHina Exchange gift for Avril!)
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 61
Kudos: 421
Collections: AtsuHina Exchange





	a little closer to home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Avril](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avril/gifts).



> For Avril, who asked for fluff, hugs, and Brazil travel. I hope you enjoy the relationship Atsumu and Hinata have in this fic! It was such a pleasure to write for you. ♥

Hinata insists on picking Atsumu up. 

"You don't understand," he says over the phone shortly before Atsumu's flight. "It's going to take you _hours_ to get out of that airport. _Hours._ I don't want to be sitting in the hotel room waiting for you all that time, not when I can see you sooner than that!"

"You're such a secret sap," Atsumu tells him, laughing when all Hinata says in return is an impish, " _You're_ the secret sap; I am a very obvious and blatant sap!" before he hangs up.

Those parting words make more sense to Atsumu when he steps out into the arrivals hall of the Galeão International Airport after twenty-plus hours of flying—carry-on and backpack in tow, plane-ruffled hair tucked beneath an Onigiri Miya cap, face mask in place—and finds his gaze immediately drawn to a burst of yellow and orange balloons floating above the waiting crowd, right next to an equally eye-catching **♥♥♥ WELCOME TO BRAZIL, ATSUMU!!! ♥♥♥** sign on a poster board, written with big, bold strokes in surprisingly impressive kanji, strategically decorated in yellow glitter.

When he actually _sees_ Hinata underneath all of that, with his bright orange hair and big goofy smile and a massive bouquet of flowers— _flowers!_ —tucked under his elbow, because between the sign and the balloons and taking that running leap into Atsumu's arms—he's really short three arms, if you think about it— 

But Atsumu doesn't have time to think about it.

He laughs, instead, letting go of his carry-on just quick enough to have himself an armful of Hinata, flowers and sign squished between them and balloons floating overhead. He buries his face in the crook of Hinata's neck and breathes him in.

"You're ridiculous," he says, grinning. "What if you flew away with this many balloons— _ow!_ "

"Missed you too," Hinata mumbles into Atsumu's chest. 

"Yeah, I did too," Atsumu sighs, hugging him tight. "You were definitely right about picking me up."

* * *

It was Bokuto who had picked Hinata up from the train station when he first moved to Hirakata, and it was Bokuto who had let him crash at his place for the first few weeks he spent looking for his own apartment there, so it made sense that it was also Bokuto who would invite the rest of the Black Jackals to Hinata's one-bedroom for a housewarming-slash-welcome-rookies team party.

"How'd he talk you into this?" Atsumu asked Hinata at some point during the evening, his grip loose around a half-empty bottle of beer and body buzzing with two and a half bottles' worth of alcohol. 

Hinata just laughed. Atsumu hadn't seen him in years, had only really known him from the other side of a court the two instances they faced each other at Interhigh. He could tell that he'd grown since, however, not just in the way years of training added muscle to his arms and calves or broadened the width of his shoulders. He was less skittish now, still brimming with enthusiasm though the confidence he exuded was more controlled, calmer. He no longer overflowed with a desperate need to prove himself, instead holding himself with the kind of quiet assurance that he just _could_. 

"He brought it up and I thought it was a great idea," Hinata said. "You know, get to know the team a little before training camp starts."

"And what have you learned so far?" Atsumu asked, wondering how many times Barnes' wild gesticulating had nearly smacked Hinata in the face, or if he'd spotted Thomas and Inunaki getting cozy in the balcony when they thought no one was looking. 

But he'd already noticed the way Hinata introduced himself so easily to everyone he'd only just met, doing things that at different points in the evening had Inunaki cackling, Meian clapping him on the shoulder, Barnes whipping out his phone to show him pictures of his daughters. He offered Thomas a drink and said something in English that made Thomas light up, the two of them chatting excitedly on for a few minutes, the most anyone else besides Inunaki had managed a conversation with Thomas. Even Sakusa, who had been reluctant about the party in the first place, stopped holding his shoulders so stiffly and began instead to hold something that looked like a conversation with Hinata.

The smile Hinata wore was wide and pleased. If he was ever nervous about the team, Atsumu never saw it, and the enthusiasm in his answer felt genuine and honest. "I think I'm gonna like this team a lot." 

Atsumu took another swig of his drink. "That's good to know," he said. The team was probably going to like him a whole lot back, too.

* * *

"I like your friends," Atsumu tells Hinata some twenty-odd hours later, after a full night's sleep, a day spent wandering Rio de Janeiro, an afternoon on the beach, and an evening of dinner and drinks with, seemingly, everyone Hinata had ever met during his first stay there. "Nice and Heitor are pretty cool. I can see why you visit them so often."

He goes back to Rio whenever he has time, he's said before, and usually spends the longer holiday weekends with the Santanas. Heitor's like a mix of Meian and Thomas, chill and easygoing, but Nice reminds Atsumu a lot of Inunaki, sharp and funny. There's only so much they can talk about without having Hinata translate the entire time, but she told stories with enough expression and action Atsumu generally caught the gist of them. It was easy to laugh along when she herself laughed so fully.

Pedro was a little quieter, but Hinata drew him out by giving him the latest volume of _One Piece_ that he'd asked Atsumu to pick up on his way. After that, he asked Atsumu a few questions in Japanese, and it had actually been a little bit of a relief to talk to someone in a language he knew a little better.

It strikes Atsumu then, how different they all were, but how Hinata had the same effect on them when they met up. He made friends everywhere, Atsumu already knew, like a secondary effect of him breathing the same air they did. 

It was just what he did. He just liked finding reasons to like people.

"Wish you'd met their little one too," Hinata says, crawling under the sheets with Atsumu, pillowing his cheek on Atsumu's chest and wrapping both his arms and legs around him. "She's so cute, Tsumu, her cheeks are so round!"

"Maybe next time," Atsumu says, laughing as he wriggles to get into a more comfortable position. "Hey, what are you—"

"Missed you," is all Hinata mumbles.

Atsumu huffs. "Missed you too, Shouyou, but you don't see me pretending to be a koala over here."

"S'cause you're the little spoon," Hinata says, undeterred. He looks up, the corner of his lips twitching so irresistibly Atsumu has no choice but to kiss it. 

"I'm not a little anything," he says, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata leans up to kiss that protest away. "That's not what I said. And don't lie to me, I was there when I was big spooning you. I'm doing that right now!"

"This isn't what a spoon does," Atsumu points out, laughing as he tries to reposition them so that Hinata has his back to Atsumu's chest instead, and he was tucked against Atsumu. "See? Wait—my arm's going to fall asleep." 

"Oh? What a shame, but I thought you were the big spoon?" Hinata says, a little too innocently not to raise any suspicions. 

Atsumu sputters. "You planned this."

"I don't know what you mean," Hinata says, drawing Atsumu's arms tighter around his waist. "Good night, Atsumu-san," he adds sweetly.

"You little shit," Atsumu murmurs, grinning as he buries his face against the top of Hinata's head. He's only too happy to let him get away with it.

* * *

Hinata was damn near bursting with happiness after his V.League debut, and who wouldn't be? It was the kind of storybook ending that felt _right_ for a guy like him: a first point in his first game that ended in his first win, right in front of all of his friends.

The post-game reunion had been on both teams' schedules as soon as they knew the game was happening— _I've asked my friends from back home to come, so everyone playing should come by too_ , Hinata had said.

Atsumu just hadn't realized that when Hinata said he was inviting his friends from back home, he meant, like, all of Miyagi.

They must have rented out the full restaurant. Atsumu walked in to find Hinata mid-flit, going from table to table and being dragged from one group to another, saying hi to everyone he came across between point A and point B.

"Does he know everybody here?" he asked nobody in particular.

Kageyama, who by chance happened to be next to him, answered. "Everybody came here for him."

Atsumu frowned. "Weren't you their teammate too?" he asked, the words out of his mouth before he could even begin to remember to be polite.

But Kageyama only shrugged, and nothing in his face said he took Atsumu's question for an insult. "They're not just all of our old teammates," he said.

"Old rivals as well?" Atsumu mused, because wasn't that his own origin story when it came to Hinata's life? Rival-turned-teammate, now standing beside the teammate-turned-rival. "He sure likes collecting them, huh?"

And then some, it turned out. Teammates from his ragtag middle school volleyball team of basketball and soccer players. Former Karasuno teammates. Former Miyagi rivals. The coach who wouldn't let him train at the rookie camp he crashed. The player who inspired him to play in the first place.

Over the evening, whether through Hinata's own introductions, Kageyama's dry commentary, or by virtue of sitting next to them at some point, Atsumu got to hear about them all. Not just who they were, but how Hinata's kept in touch—scratch that, how he _was_ keeping in touch even then, during the reunion, with a million running conversations going simultaneously, picking up from the last email or the current group chat or the postcards sent and received.

Hinata, Atsumu realized, would charm any beast into a prince with the force of his attention. He would pull people into his orbit before they even realized they had crossed paths. The evening revolved around him the way planets circled the sun because it had the strongest gravitational pull.

It was the first time Atsumu understood what that meant, the gravity of it, its rippling effects over the years that followed.

And it was the first time he realized, too—as his attention continued to be drawn toward him over the evening, whenever a burst of laughter pierced the air or a flash of orange caught the corner of his gaze—that he would be no less immune to it.

* * *

"You can sleep if you like," Hinata tells him. "We're only a few hours away, but you must still be jet-lagged."

"And miss out on my time with you?" Atsumu bites down on the yawn threatening to slip from his mouth and blinks his eyes wide open, shifting in the passenger seat so he wasn't leaning his head against anything. "Besides, m'not jet-lagged."

Hinata laughs, flicking Atsumu's nose fondly. "I don't think you're immune to it. We're only driving anyway. You should try to get some sleep; there will be more things to do once we get to Paraty and I wanna show them to someone conscious."

"But the view!" Atsumu protests, holding back another yawn. They're driving alongside the coast from Rio to São Paulo, intending to stop by the resort town in the middle to space out their time on the road. As far as road trips go it's definitely one of the more picturesque Atsumu's had the fortune to see, but the view he doesn't want to miss is the way the morning light haloes Hinata's profile, illuminating rosy cheeks and the dusting of freckles along his nose. More breathtaking than Costa Verde, and Atsumu will fight any tourist guide that dares claim otherwise.

"The ocean's not going anywhere," Hinata says. He's keeping his eye on the road, hands steady on the steering wheel, but his gaze flickers over to Atsumu now and then. There are flecks of yellow in his eyes, like honey in hazel. He's beautiful.

Atsumu yawns. "I know," he mumbles, and when he smiles he's got the feeling it's a little lopsided. "I can't believe you're driving. Used to drive you around all the time back in Japan."

"Couldn't bike around much in São Paulo anymore, I guess, and I didn't have you with me," Hinata says, his smile soft around the edges.

"I'll drive you anywhere you wanna go," he says, the last of the words muffled around a yawn. He's trying to fight it, but he is bone-tired, the hours sitting on planes without room to lay down and rest still catching up to him.

"Atsumu, you're supposed to try to sleep," Hinata reminds him, laughing. "Go on. It's okay. I'll wake you when we get there."

* * *

"Tired?" Atsumu asked, watching Hinata all but crawl into the team bus after the match—five entire sets against the Red Falcons, three of them pushing into extra play. 

" _Gwuh,_ " was Hinata's incomprehensible reply. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, blinking owlishly at Atsumu before noticing the free seat beside him and collapsing onto it.

"I'll take that as a yes," Atsumu said with a laugh. He was exhausted too, of course, but Hinata had never learned how to conserve his energy in a match, always going full throttle as he relied on his stamina and conditioning to last him through the sets. It wasn't normally a problem, but tonight wasn't a normal night either.

"M'sorry," Hinata mumbled, his head lolling back against the headrest, then swaying toward Atsumu. "Not the best company right now."

"When are you usually?" Atsumu asked, laughing lightly when Hinata found the energy to huff and punch him, albeit half-heartedly.

"Can't be mean t'me," he grumbled, yawning. "Scored so many points tonight. So many points."

Atsumu grinned. "Yeah," he said, remembering the way it felt when Hinata connected on that last, impossible, Hail Mary toss that won them the fourth set to tie the match. "You did." 

"Just for you, 'Tsumu-san, so y'can't be—" Hinata yawned again. "Can't be mean." 

"Okay, Shouyou-kun, I won't be mean," Atsumu said, gently nudging Hinata's head to lay against his shoulder. It was the last game of the weekend, and they weren't playing too far from Hirakata, but it would still be a while before they were all dropped off at the Black Jackals' practice facilities. It would be well past midnight by the time any of them made it home. "How about you get some shuteye here like this, yeah? Since you scored me so many points."

Hinata's voice was soft and sleep-heavy, more sigh than anything. "S'right, I did," he whispered, shifting to curl up closer to Atsumu, his cheek soft and his breathing growing quiet. "G'night, 'Tsumu-san. Thank you."

Atsumu smiled. "Night, Shouyou-kun. Sweet dreams."

* * *

Atsumu falls asleep to Hinata's profile and wakes up to a dream in the middle of Paraty.

"Did we go back in time?" Atsumu asks to Hinata's amusement, following him to the small house they'd rented for the next few days. 

"As close to it as we can get," Hinata says, taking his hand, fingers entwined with Atsumu's, and leading him out to the town center. "I dunno about you but I'm starving for food, and there was this great restaurant I tried here last time—"

They find it after some trial and error that consists mostly of Hinata charmingly asking many wizened shopkeepers where this restaurant might be, and after an enormous, amazing meal of rice, beans, and fish stew, they lose their afternoon exploring the old cobblestone paths of the historic district that, as Hinata tells Atsumu with wild hand gestures, can get flooded whenever the tide rises. 

"Just by a few inches!" he's quick to say, bent over a window selling trinkets, face scrunched up as he looks through the display. "You think Nacchan would like that necklace?"

"Doesn't seem quite like her," Atsumu says, scratching his chin. The last time he saw Natsu—when _Monthly Baseball Kingdom_ wrote a profile on Karasuno's team and Hinata had made him buy five copies of it—she had dirt on her cheeks, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and tucked beneath a cap, and she wore a feral glint in her gaze that was not unlike her brother's. "But I think Yachi would like it."

Hinata agrees, going into the store to get Yachi her souvenir. Later on, they find a brightly patterned yellow bandana that is definitely more Natsu's style, and Hinata's quick to purchase that too. By the time they get hungry for dinner, Hinata's found a few other presents that were suitable for other friends, and he's picked up a pack of postcards for everyone else.

"Did Osamu-san ask for anything from here?" Hinata asks, tilting his head at Atsumu while they wait for dinner out on the patio of a cute restaurant.

"Just to tell him about the food," Atsumu says. He can send him a postcard too, but he's pretty sure Hinata's already writing him one. "I'm waiting until I see something really obnoxious."

Hinata laughs. "Remember the bedazzled shirts I bought to send to Tsukishima and Kageyama for their birthdays?" he asks. 

The flash of a memory from a video call a few months ago surfaces in Atsumu's mind. The shirts were absolutely ridiculous. Osamu would hate them. He grins. "Yeah?"

"I'll take you to the store I got them from."

That unplanned but ultimately fruitful side trip is why it's well after sunset by the time they get to the beach, their path lit by the moon that hung low in the sky and the beachside eateries that dotted the coast. Shoes in one hand, the other's palm in the other, they walk barefoot along the sandy shore, feet digging into sand and ocean water lapping at their ankles. 

"Are you tired yet?" Hinata asks. His hand is warm in Atsumu's, solid and comfortable. Atsumu didn't know if he'd have taken Hinata for the kind of boyfriend who liked holding hands so often, but he likes the way their fingers fit between each other's, the way their arms swing to the same cadence of their footsteps.

"Could stay out here a little longer," Atsumu says, though there is definitely something about the rhythmic rise and fall of the waves that's lulling him to a relaxed state. 

"Okay, but you should tell me if you wanna head back."

"So thoughtful," Atsumu teases, nudging his shoulder against Hinata's. "I wanna walk a bit more. It's beautiful out here."

Hinata follows his gaze to the sea, the way the moon's reflection catches on the water like glimmering diamonds. "It is, isn't it."

* * *

"I can hear you thinking over here," Atsumu spoke into the darkness of the hotel room he shared with Hinata. They'd turned the lights off earlier, but Hinata was still up—shifting in bed every now and then, just enough to be noticeable—and so, by default, Atsumu was too. 

"How did you—"

"Shared a room with my brother for more than half my life," Atsumu said. "I can tell."

"M'sorry, Atsumu-san."

"What's with that apology?" Atsumu asked, turning over so he could lay on his side and face Hinata. "S'alright. Can't sleep? Wanna talk for a bit?"

Hinata laughed softly. "Are you doing your setter thing on me?" he asked, and even in the dark, his gaze shone brightly on Atsumu.

"What setter thing?" 

"You know, when you—" Hinata paused, interrupted by a yawn. He pillowed his cheek against the palm of his hand and huddled closer, eyes on Atsumu's. "That thing you do, where you tell Bokuto about the best points he scored after a match so that's what he remembers most, and you leave extra space around Sakusa's things in the locker room so he can change in peace, and you do a post-game review with me after we lose so I get even more fired up to win next time."

"Oh," Atsumu exhaled, blinking. He hadn't even really realized he was doing any of those things. He hadn't even realized Hinata had noticed. Had he been that obvious? " _That_ setter thing."

"We won today anyway," Hinata said. "I don't need to be fired up for tomorrow's game."

"Shouyou-kun."

"Mm?"

"What if I'm asking because it's a friend thing?"

"Oh," Hinata said, echoing Atsumu from earlier. Atsumu watched his lips curl up in the dark, a soft smile on his face. "Then, I guess if it's okay…"

Atsumu hummed in the affirmative, waiting for Hinata to gather his thoughts.

"Can I ask," he said finally, "why you play?"

* * *

"Tell me," Hinata says, walking up to Atsumu, placing a hand on Atsumu's hip as he peers around his shoulders, "what you're doing in my kitchen so early in the morning."

"Jet lag," Atsumu says, a partial explanation. He'd heard it can last this long, but at least now he's only awake an hour before the alarm was supposed to ring. "And I thought I would make us breakfast."

São Paulo is a much busier city than Rio had been, than Atsumu had expected. But while there are sights to see, places to go, and people to meet—and while they _have_ seen, gone, and met them all—for two social people they have definitely spent more time inside than out in the past couple of days since they've arrived. Most meals are prepared at home, Hinata regaling Atsumu with his favorite local dishes, and most mornings spent idly just talking over a cup of coffee that would turn to two, then three. 

"Are you sure about this?" Hinata asks, doing his best to keep his voice even despite the way Atsumu can tell he's nervous.

It's only fair. Atsumu hasn't turned on a stovetop in front of Hinata in a while. And the last time he did, they'd nearly had to call the fire department.

"You know how you've had to learn to drive since you got here?" Atsumu asks, checking that the pan is hot enough before he pours a bit of the egg mixture onto it. 

"What about it?"

"What do you think I've had to learn?" he asks, grinning. 

"You cook now," Hinata replies, mirroring his grin. He watches Atsumu carefully and neatly roll the egg up before adding a second layer of the mixture onto the pan. "You've had practice."

"'Samu showed me how," Atsumu says, pleased. "He said I'd have to know, or giving me his extra secret special recipe would be pointless otherwise."

"He gave you his secret recipe!" Hinata gasps, tugging at Atsumu's shirt. "You're gonna tell me what it is, right? Atsumu?"

"Oh, I don't know. It's a pretty big secret," he says, pursing his lips and looking thoughtful, like Osamu hadn't already printed out the recipe himself and laminated it especially for Hinata.

* * *

"Can I tell you a secret?" Hinata asked, curled up in Atsumu's couch after the takeout leftovers were wrapped up and placed back in the fridge, and the movie on the TV reduced to something more like background noise. 

"You can tell me anything," Atsumu told him, coming back from the kitchen with fresh glasses of water. He set them both down on the table, folding his legs beneath him as he sat next to Hinata. He'd sensed it all evening, the cloud hovering over Hinata's usually sunny disposition, something simmering in the way he held back, quieter than normal, going through the evening like he was working himself up to this moment.

Hinata didn't say anything immediately, his gaze on the coffee table. But his eyes didn't blaze with the usual fierce intensity that came in a match, where he burned with resolve and determination and hunger before he set forth to do what he had to do. 

This look was more thoughtful. Considering. Like when he watched game tapes, figuring out first how the plays were unfolding, and then, later, how he fit in them. 

Atsumu ventured a guess. "Is this a… spiker to setter thing?" he asked, gentle.

Hinata shook his head. "It's—" he started, but faltered. "It's a me thing. But it also might be—"

He trailed off again, and Atsumu nudged him lightly on the shoulder. "I'm starting to think I should be worried."

"Asas São Paulo wants to sign me for next season," Hinata said in a whoosh of air that stole the breath from Atsumu's lungs. "They've been a contender in the Brazilian Superliga for the last couple of years and they said they wanted to—that there's a spot for me if I—"

"Shouyou," Atsumu said, swallowing, then smiling. "Shouyou, that's _amazing_!"

Hinata looked at him in surprise. "Really?" 

"Isn't that—it's the _Superliga_ , Shouyou, didn't you want to—"

"I do," he said. "I do, but I—I love being here too, and we were going to defend the championship, I—"

Atsumu smiled, reaching out to squeeze Hinata's wrist. "But it's the Superliga." 

"But it's the Superliga," Hinata echoed. 

"You'd be crazy not to do it."

"Would I be?" he asked, glancing down at the hand Atsumu had placed on his wrist. He turned his palm over, pulling back to take Atsumu's hand in his. "Atsumu, I—"

"I'd be crazy to tell you not to do it," Atsumu murmured, watching Hinata squeeze his hand, sliding his fingers between his to hold on. "Just come back, okay? I'll w—"

Hinata didn't let him finish.

"I'll come back," he promised later, once they both pulled away, a whisper caught in the space between them. He gently traced Atsumu's bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, rested his forehead against Atsumu's. "You'll wait?"

Atsumu smiled, drawing Hinata close for another kiss. "Maybe I'll even visit."

* * *

"What did you think?" Hinata asks Atsumu the night before his flight back home. His bags are packed in a corner of the room, with the addition of an extra piece of luggage full of the presents he and Hinata (but mostly Hinata) had bought for their friends back in Japan. Hinata's pillowed against his chest, arm wrapped around his waist, the question whispered to bare skin.

Atsumu hums, the fingers that had been idly tracing characters on Hinata's arm stilling. "Of?"

"Your trip. Brazil." 

"It's beautiful," Atsumu murmurs. And it is. The sun shines brighter here, the heat a comfortable prickle on his skin, the streets and shops imbued with a liveliness everywhere that he doesn't often see in Japan. "I'm glad I got to see it. Glad I got to see how you were like here."

"Me?"

Atsumu grins. "Yeah. You hold back on drinks a lot more in Japan, I think," he teases. Hinata is louder, if that were even possible, when he's speaking in Portuguese than in his native Japanese, less deferential with those older than him, moving with a different kind of confidence than Atsumu's seen him show in Japan. It isn't that Hinata's a different person exactly, but he's so many things to so many different people, and different places must bring out those sides of him. "Brazil Hinata's kinda sexy, you should talk to me in Portuguese more often."

"Atsumu!"

He laughs. "No, but seriously. It was fun. Thank you for showing me around. I can see why you like it here."

"Oh?"

"I mean. Don't you?"

"It's okay," Hinata says. His lips are soft, velvet against Atsumu's chest. "I don't really think about whether or not I like a place, you know."

"Yeah?"

Hinata nods. "I mean. There are things I like about this city," he says. "Like there were things I liked about Rio. But I'm not here because I like being here; I'm here because this is where I can play the volleyball I want to play."

"Oh." Atsumu blinks. "That makes sense."

"It's only ever been volleyball," Hinata murmurs, a little pensive. "Before."

Atsumu smiles. "Yeah?" He thinks about the players he's met through the years, the roads they've taken to keep playing. Kageyama in Italy, Ushijima in Poland. Hinata in Brazil. But even Bokuto and Sakusa moved three hours from Tokyo to play with the Black Jackals, too. Just to play the volleyball they wanted to play.

He thinks about the thirty-minute drive from Hirakata to Osaka, where his brother is. The hour from Hirakata to Amagasaki, where his parents are. How lucky he'd gotten, that one of the best teams in the league to want to recruit him right out of high school happened to be within driving distance from everything else he held dear.

 _Almost_ everything he held dear, anyway.

"Do you remember when I asked if you ever wanted to play abroad?" Hinata asks.

"I do," Atsumu says. It hadn't been an issue of could or couldn't. There was some interest, after the Olympics. It wasn't a shortage of ambition that kept him close to home. "I said I wanted to be the best in Japan."

"And that you wanted Japan to be the best in the world."

"You know," Atsumu says, because Hinata goes quiet after, but he can feel the hesitation hanging in the air around them, the tension in the way Hinata's clinging to him. "Just because we're going about it differently doesn't make one way more right than the other."

"Okay." Hinata snuggles closer. "I wanna be the best in the world too."

"I know, and you will be," Atsumu tells him. "So take your time."

* * *

"No need to rush," Atsumu said, taking some of Hinata's stuff to load onto his car. "We've got a little bit of cushion before we really have to leave for the airport."

"This is everything, right?" Hinata asked, peering into the trunk and counting. For a year's worth of living in a different country, he didn't pack much. Clothes and gear, primarily, and a few mementos. A bag just for spices and snacks he said were hard to find the last time he was there. For everything else, the team would have an apartment ready for him when he got there, furnished with the basics. 

"Passport and boarding pass too?" 

Hinata patted the cross-body bag strapped across his chest. "All here," he said, though he unzipped it open to check.

The drive was much shorter than either of them anticipated, leaving them enough time so that Atsumu could even park the car and help Hinata carry all his things through check-in.

"Is someone picking you up when you get there?" he wanted to know as they watched his bags get tagged and placed on the conveyor belt.

"No, but they told me how I can get a cab to my hotel. I'll be meeting someone from the team the day after," Hinata said. "It's for the better, the flights are so long I won't remember anything they tell me until I've had a full night's sleep anyway."

"I guess," Atsumu said, walking with Hinata toward security. He scrunched his nose. "I'd have picked you up, if it were me. You'll text me when you land?"

"Yes, Atsumu-san," Hinata said.

"And you've got your hotel address written down? Don't get into any sketchy cabs when you get there, okay?"

"Yes, Atsumu-san."

"And—"

"Atsumu-san."

"Hm?"

"There's still a lot of time before my flight starts to board," Hinata said, grinning. "If you're gonna miss me so much, do you want to maybe grab a coffee at that cafe and sit with me for a bit before I have to go?"

"What! I never said—"

"Well, I'm gonna miss you too, so," Hinata said, circling an arm around his waist and nudging them both over to the cafe. "Get me a coffee one more time? I've already exchanged all my yen for reals."

"You have a credit card," Atsumu pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but does that mean I can't ask my boyfriend for one last date?" Hinata asked, jutting out his lower lip for an exaggerated pout.

Atsumu groaned, unable to keep the helpless smile off his face. "Fine, fine. You're lucky I like you so much."

"And that you're secretly such a sap," Hinata teased. "C'mon, I see a table opening up."

Atsumu followed after him. The flight would last more than a day, and then Hinata would be half a world away.

But they were going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> With huge thanks to those who read this ahead of posting, and the mods who ran this exchange!
> 
> Thank you for reading! If you liked what you've read, you can [share the tweet here](https://twitter.com/slumberish/status/1319294287100710912). I've also written a handful of [other Haikyuu!! fics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/works?fandom_id=758208), including other AtsuHinas.


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